The Goondocks HAMPSHIRE promoter Iain Martin had a simple message for London-based foursome Goondocks when they first met: "You gotta get out more!" The band had been playing the capital's overcrowded band circuit for several years and needed to get their music to a wider audience. Their experience on the road - especially at this summer's festivals - has won them a big bunch of new fans and made them realise the breadth of their appeal. Says lead singer Martin Newnham: "We had been playing to the same people on the same circuit for ages. "Then we played some gigs outside London, including some summer festivals, where there were people of all ages - kids to really old people - and within three to four songs we had got their attention. "It was the first time we have taken our songs to a new audience of all ages and it worked - they liked us. "Now we've found we appeal across the board, there is something for everyone. The festivals really opened our eyes." The new audiences included Traders, Petersfield, The Cellars at Eastney, the International Festival of the Sea in Portsmouth and, the jewel in their gig crown this summer, the famously laid-back Larmer Tree Festival on Dorset-Wiltshire border. "We realised we can appeal to a diverse audience. To play an hour's worth of your own stuff to people who have never heard you before and keep their attention was brilliant," Martin said. "It's nice playing to people who come out to listen to live music and really appreciate it." The Goondocks have been together for seven years forming - as The Hanging Baskets - in 1998 after playing together for the first time at a London folk jam night. Martin already knew fiddler Andy Parkin from the Isle of Wight and they were joined by Belfast bassist Dave Marks and drummer Vesa Haapanen from Finland. Martin explained: "We were all so enthusiastic. Everyone was up for trying anything out. "We started out doing covers but the way we did them was very different from the originals and we built up quite a following. "It just grew and grew and we decided it was time to write our own material." The name change followed, along with a first album - a marathon production lasting the best part of two years. Martin said: "We all had our own solo and other projects so it was really difficult getting everyone together at the same time to work on the album. "That's been our biggest hurdle throughout the seven years we have been together. We can be going at something for a month and then it all comes to a halt while we go off and do our own things. "Of course you want to put everything you can into the band but we have all got to look after ourselves and pay the rent." The album helped kick start the development of the Goondock's own style and sound which the band describe as "acoustic funk rock". "The diversity of what we play is one of our strongest points but it may have also held us back a bit," Martin explained. "We are too rocky for folk and too folky for full-on rock. We go from sweet acoustic ballads to some pretty heavy rocky things. "Dave used to describe us as a schizophrenic band - we jumped around lots of different styles. We were all music students then studying everything from jazz, folk to rock and blues and we wanted to do the lot. "But I think we definitely have our own sound now. We sound like the Goondocks." It's almost impossible to pigeonhole the Goondocks' sound. Martin says it cuts across the acoustic ballads of Damien Rice to Coldplay to Led Zeppelin. Think Counting Crows but funkier, says bassist Dave. "There's little bits of everything in there which comes from the fact that we've all got different strengths and we bring different things to the table," Martin said. "When we started we were a little bit pretentious. There were lots of things we wanted to try. It seemed very important to play complicated stuff at the time. "Some great songs came out of it, some that we still use today, but obviously there is lots of stuff we have left behind." Managers have come and gone over the years along with a fleeting brush with a record company deal. "We almost got involved with them but they wanted us to go for a bit more of an image thing and it really wasn't us," Martin said. "We wouldn't be together now if we had to hone down our style to one very specific area. "One of our main problems is that we have never really quite known what we need to do to get where we want to be. We have met lots of really enthusiastic people along the way but none of them have had the right connections." The new link with Iain Martin's Stiff Promotions led to successful appearances at the summer festivals. A new album lies on the horizon, preceded by a three-track promo EP. "We have lots of great ideas and we are working at taking things up to that next level. It's definitely time for us to get some new material out for people to hear what our next album is going to be like. "Our music has moved on from the last album - there are lots of things we do differently now. Lots of musicians say we sound better live than on the album so we have to try to capture that raw, edgy, live sound on the next album. "It's the album that turns up on people's desks and all you've got is a few seconds to convince them. It has got to sell us and sound like we sound live to give us the best chance." More information is available at www.thegoondocks.com or ends THE BAND Martin Newnham - guitar and lead vocals. From the Isle of Wight. Studied at The Guitar Institute in London. Teaches guitar privately and at primary and secondary schools in the south. Just produced a solo album and gigs in a covers duo with Andy. Andy Parkin - fiddle, keyboards and vocals. From the Isle of Wight. Studied at the London College of Music. Teaches violin. Plays sax and sings backing vocals on albums for his brother's band The Bees. Plays in a covers duo with Martin. Dave Marks - bass and vocals. From Belfast. Studied at The Guitar Institute. Now teaches there, tours with singer song writer Rosalie Deighton and has toured with Carl Palmer from Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Vesa Haapanen - drums. From Finland. Studied at The Guitar Institute. Now fluent in English and teaches at schools around the capital. Plays with underground jazz dance outfit called Pest. ends THE NAME Goondocks was chosen after it was decided The Hanging Baskets sounded too much like a folk band. The name is taken from the 80s cult film The Goonies which features a group of youngsters from an area called the Goondocks. Martin said: "We all just liked the word. It seemed to fit. "There's this website where you can check if band names are taken. We tried everything - even Cat Rapes Dog was taken." ends Copyright: Bernie Saunders |
